With rising tension between the United States and Canada, some are worried that Haines could pay the price of Canadian resentment.
It’s hard to put a precise number on Haines’ economic reliance on Canadian tourism, but tourism director Rebecca Hylton says it’s significant. “The Yukon is our closest neighbour,” said Hylton, “and [Yukoners] are basically everyone who has come into the Visitor Center in the past few weeks.” Canadian travelers are especially important to Haines, which receives fewer cruise ship tourists than neighboring Skagway and Juneau and is accessible from Canada via the highway. Those Canadian highway travelers, Hylton said, are what keep many Haines businesses running through the colder months.
But now, organizations around Haines are reporting Canadian customers and partners voting with their dollars and choosing not to spend them in the United States. Hylton said the Visitor Center has gotten “a couple dozen” emails from Canadians saying they have cancelled travel plans due to national tensions. “Some are saying, we had these plans to come but we’re going to cancel and tell our friends to do the same.”
There has been limited, but tangible evidence so far that this could be more than just talk. At Ampersand on Main Street, gallery owner Ramie Carlson Clayton said in the wake of tariff increases, two of the Canadian artists she represents have gotten in touch about limiting sales of their work. According to Clayton, one paused restocking “until the situation gets better,” and the other sent an email saying they wanted to “cease all relationships with U.S.-based businesses” due to “threats to the Canadian economy and Canadian sovereignty.” Carlson said she represents about 10 Canadian artists, and none of the others have pulled work.
Haines Huts and Trails has also seen an in-person impact, though it has been impossible to determine the exact cause. The organization’s Kat to Koot Race on Feb. 8 had only two Canadian participants, down from 15-30 in an ordinary year, said Huts and Trails spokesperson Nate Arrants. Though they are worried this could have a lasting impact, Arrants noted that this year’s race dates were different, which could have accounted for the change.
Richard Clement, board member for the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, said the situation has his organization “not really worried, but concerned.” That space between worried and concerned, whatever it might be, seems to be where many in Haines are operating – a reflection of lots of buzz, but inconclusive evidence.
Still, impact could be significant. Clement said that each year over half of the race’s ridership comes from Whitehorse alone. “Boy, if we don’t get Whitehorse people in here, we’ll be in a world of hurt,” said Clement. “If it drops off, I don’t think we could really replace it.”
The next couple of weeks do include a couple of more solid bellwethers: Hylton and the Visitor Center will be keeping an eye on the opening of Beerfest ticket sales on March 1, where she says the majority of attendees each year come from the Yukon. If the tickets don’t sell out in the first couple of days, she plans to aggressively shift funds towards marketing targeted at Yukon residents.
It’s a similar story for KCIBR, for which registration opens on March 15. Clement says that in a usual year, team signups fill up within the first week. If signups are slower, it will be an indication that the dropoff is real. The organization hasn’t planned any response if that does occur.